darwin604 Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 I currently have an ocillarus clown in my nano right now. I know they are often referred to as false clowns. I'm helping my brother set up his own SW tank and he wants a clown / anemone combo. I've been scoping out a maroon clown for him at the LFS but before I buy it I'm wondering . . what IS the difference between my ocellarus and a "real" clown? Are there any pros / cons on with either one? thanks d. Link to comment
Andy16 Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 True pers are wild caught and the false percs are never wild caught. Also the black band around white band is waht really tells them apart. The main difference though is the top fin spines. I fogot what it is, but one has 10 fin spines and one has 11. Link to comment
tinyreef Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 here's a good link for info. hth Link to comment
mattie Posted October 21, 2003 Share Posted October 21, 2003 i have never heard the wild caught vs. tank raised before on whether it is true or false but? percula and ocellaris look simliar when young but the perc will darken and have black boarders around the white stripes and the stripes often will not be even or uniform like in a ocellaris both are true clowns false is just" nick name " there are few versions of maroon clowns that look similar but with different colors maroon clowns have a spine that comes off the gill so care must be taken when netting and marrons are much more aggressive and territorial than a perc or ocellaris so they need more room or no tank mates in smaller tank Link to comment
CalciumOverdose Posted October 22, 2003 Share Posted October 22, 2003 Originally posted by Andy16 True pers are wild caught and the false percs are never wild caught. not to offend you, but that is not true at all... Amphiprion ocellaris can be found in the wild. False Percula can be found in the indo west pacific : eastern Indian Ocean including Andaman and Nicobar Is., Thailand, Malaysia, and northwest Australia to Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines; ranges northward to Taiwan and the Ryukyu Is True Percula can be found in the Western Pacific: Queensland and Melanesia including northern Great Barrier Reef, northern New Guinea, New Britain, Solomon Is. and Vanuatu one way to distinguish the two is by counting the number of dorsal-fin spines. A. percula usually has 10 dorsal-fin spines, while A. ocellaris usually has 11. Also, the latter never has thick black margins outlining the fins Link to comment
peppermint22 Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Just how thick do you consider "thick" to be? I've seen pics of true percs on the net that do not have such thick black outlining. In fact, they look like ocellaris. Try these pics from fishbase.org: ...or maybe, I could be wrong, because I might have a true perc in my aquarium right now. I'm still not too sure whether it is a true or false perc. It was sold as a false perc, but the coloring is intense orange, and the black outlines are kinda thick, thicker than its companion which I first bought and which I know is definitely an ocellaris. Besides, the "so-called" ocellaris' body shape looks fuller compared to its little friend. Still haven't counted its dorsal soft rays yet. Link to comment
Dacoolguychris Posted November 1, 2003 Share Posted November 1, 2003 those pictures might be juveniles... because it does take some time before they show their thicker lines.... just a thought, Chris Link to comment
peppermint22 Posted November 3, 2003 Share Posted November 3, 2003 Below what size would you consider clownfish as juveniles? The clowns in those pics are actually adults. Link to comment
Amphibious Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 To all The terms true percula clown and false percula clown are a total misnomer and like a bad habit it's hard to break. The sooner we all correct the nominclature the better. this has gone on far too long. The two fish in question are different species. Closely related, yes. Their scientific names are, Amphiprion ocellarus and Amphiprion percula. Here's a pic of the ocellaris clown. Let's not refer to it as the false percula, please. It's not a percula at all so it's not false! It's Amphiprion ocellaris. Here's a pic of the percula clown. Let's not refer to this one as the true percula. It simply is the percula clown or Amphiprion percula.. The difference is plain to see. There should be no mistaking one for the other. Both are found in the wild and both are being bred in captivity. It would best serve this hobby if everyone would take the time to learn the scientific names of the fish we love. Link to comment
peppermint22 Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 Mine looks exactly like the pic on top, so I guess it's an ocellaris instead of a percula. Guess it got be confused because the first clownfish I bought was an an ocellaris that a shade darker, especially near the dorsal region and it had very narrow black bands unlike the second one I bought. Anyway, are there any perculas with narrow black bands like the ones I posted from fishbase.org? Link to comment
Amphibious Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 peppermint22 The pics you posted from fishbase.org are all A. ocellaris. I've seen ocellaris pictured in literature mis-named percula. It's a shame that an author, someone you'd think would know or do his/her research, would show their ignorance in print. Sort of like the mis-information that is posted on all forums. A newbie is well advised to first ask the question, what are some good books to read and then begin his/her education that way. Oh well, live and learn. Link to comment
Amphibious Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 Then you have this color morph to add to the confusion caused by common names. The Black color morph of the Amphiprion ocellaris/percula group. I haven't seen any taxonomic work-up on this fish so what common name should we give it. Is it the black morph of A. ocellaris or A. percula. Of course we choose Black Morph of A. percula because percula is more endeared to humans than ocellaris. So, it becomes the "Black Percula". Cute little buggers, eah? Link to comment
mattie Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 very well put amphibious the scientific names make things accruate i understand for alot of people it is hard to see the dif when they fish are juvinile and some lfs give wrong info cause the emps don't know better Link to comment
peppermint22 Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 OK, now I'm convinced that mine is an ocellaris. BTW, I fortunately had the chance to see real live perculas at my LFS a few weeks ago. They all had very thick black bars. Only one out of the dozens, had an almost entirely black coloration. Anyway, perc or no perc, they're good enough for me! =) Link to comment
Amphibious Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 peppermint22 Absolutely, they are good enough for me, too. Each fish has it's own unique attraction and percs or ocellaris or anyother are perfect. Enjoy them! mattie Thank you. Yes, alot of LFSs get things wrong and perpetuate the problem. That's why common names, hung on critters by non-scientific humans makes it hard to postively identify a given critter. Link to comment
ryz Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 True clown and Flase clown are just names that people give to these two different species of clowns. True clown - Percula Flase Clown - Ocellaris.... Both ARE clownfish do not be deceived by the occelaris's common name(rather derogatory in my opinion). The occelaris clown has a slightly smaller eye(IMHO) and the body shape is also slightly different. After all, they are different species. I personally feel that ocellaris clown looks better as percula tends to have widened black patches. The occelaris clown is also easier to keep. Link to comment
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